Opalesque Industry Update – I.A. Englander & Co. (I.A. Englander) and Alaris Trading Partners, LLC (Alaris) jointly announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for the acquisition of Alaris by I.A. Englander. The terms of the transaction, which is subject to review and approval by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), were not disclosed.

One of the largest independent U.S. derivatives brokerage firms, I.A. Englander serves
clients throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and Latin America. I. A.
Englander's core options execution business represents a significant share of the daily
traded contracts on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), the Chicago Board Options
Exchange (CBOE), and NYSE Arca Options (NYSE Arca).

“Moving into prime brokerage has been a carefully planned and structured step
involving nearly two years of preparation,” said Stephen R. Tobias, Co-Founder and
President of I.A. Englander. “We were determined to enter the market with a highly
differentiated service offering that would be the result of working with best-of-breed
partners, and Alaris is such a partner. They are a well established, fast growing firm with
a very strong management team, an enviable track record and more than 200 clients
across the country. We think they are highly deserving of their recent number one
ranking for prime brokerage in North America from Global Custodian magazine. They
have the same philosophy, the same mindset as we do, and by combining what they
have built with our trading technology, you have a platform that becomes very
scalable when you consider the services the combined firm will offer.

“In shaping our approach to multi-prime services, building custodial and clearing
relationships with major institutions and putting in place risk management systems were
key considerations. We established relationships with JP Morgan, Jeffries and Merrill
Lynch, and we sought technology that would allow us to monitor our clients in real time,
offering them real time risk management and portfolio management systems.
Wrapping this infrastructure around what our firm has always done well – customer
service and being the low cost service provider – results in a very attractive service
offering.”

“This is a tremendously important step for us,” said Patrick Boyle, Alaris CEO and Co-
Founder. “I.A. Englander’s trading technology and high profile gives us a service
offering that positions us to compete for larger clients. Our success has been based on
enhancing what is usually a fairly commoditized platform by introducing prime
brokerage with a real concierge approach – everything from helping a start-up
manager find other service providers and assisting with marketing materials to providing
capital introductions.”

“As a division of I.A. Englander,” adds Darren Day, President and Co-Founder of Alaris,
“we will be able to provide seamless risk management and reporting technology. This is
coupled with I.A. Englander’s options expertise and the fully transparent, low latency
and low cost trading technology provided by Dash Financial, I.A. Englander’s
electronic execution division.